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Five Hot Glue Alternatives

Few adhesives can match hot glue’s adhesion speed and bond strength. However, despite its qualities, hot glue may not be the best for several materials and scenarios. First, hot glue can tear through softer surfaces like cloth and thin paper. Also, it can burn the person applying it.

Because of hot glue’s sticking points, hot glue alternatives can be better options for bonding certain surfaces. In this article, we’re going to share our top hot glue alternatives and their best use cases. 

Stay glued to your screen as we go over our top alternatives to hot glue. 

1. Double-sided Tape

Atop our list of hot glue alternatives isn’t a type of glue. It’s double-sided tape. Double-sided tape is a widely available adhesive material, ubiquitous in many hardware and home supply stores. Besides its availability, double-sided tape is also one of the easiest adhesive materials to use. 

Double-sided tape comes in various sizes and lengths, making it widely applicable. Double-sided tape is also an excellent adhesive aid for wood, plastic, and paper. 

Because of how easily double-sided tape bonds with paper, this hot glue alternative is best for paper-based art projects like scrapbooking. It also outshines many of its adhesive counterparts when it comes to coverage due to its elongated construction. 

2. Liquid Glue

Liquid glue shares many of hot glue’s qualities and is as available as double-sided tape. Liquid glue is easy to find in school supply stores. It’s also available in hardware stores in varying degrees of bonding strength.  

Like hot glue, liquid glue starts in its semi-solid form, bonding two surfaces once it dries. The best thing about liquid glue is that it bonds at room temperature in both indoor and outdoor environments. 

Liquid glue has a broad array of applications. In its mildest form, it’s the most effective, economical, and safest type of adhesive for paper-based projects in school. The industrial-grade iterations lend themselves to repair-related use cases like gluing shoe soles back. 

3. Spray Glue

For broader coverage, few hot glue alternatives can match spray glue. Spray glue works as well as hot glue, double-sided tape, and liquid glue. However, spray adhesive beats most adhesives if the user needs adhesion on a broad surface area.

When sprayed onto surfaces, this adhesive bonds and consolidates quickly. The user must quickly attach the material to be bonded before the spray glue dries.

Spray glue is effective for various surfaces. Like most adhesives, it’s perfect for paper, wood, plastic, and even lightweight ceramics.  

Spray glue makes adhesive application easy due to its aerosol-based application. However, there are better hot glue alternatives for more delicate and smaller items like jewelry. 

4. Fabric Glue

Spray glue’s coverage isn’t always a good thing. When a user demands more precision in adhesive application, fabric glue can be a superior alternative. 

Fabric glue bonds surfaces by forming adhesive webs that fuse after drying. Because of how fabric glue works, it also goes by another name — fusible web. 

Fabric glue or fusible web is excellent for repairing jewelry. It’s also an excellent adhesive for clothing embellishments like buttons. Fabric glue can permanently fuse buttons onto clothing as it’s impervious to heat after consolidation. 

Fabric glue’s heat tolerance makes it a permanent adhesive for many surfaces. You may want to think twice before using it as a hot glue alternative for seasonal wall art. 

5. Plastic Glue

Plastic glue is one of the most versatile hot glue alternatives available. It’s easy to find in most hardware and school supply stores and bonds to a variety of surfaces. 

While plastic glue can be effective for paper, it’s mostly for plastic or similar synthetic materials. Other materials plastic glue binds to include polyurethane, acrylic, and polycarbonate. 

Plastic glue works the same way as liquid glue. The glue is often in a semi-liquid clear form that consolidates and bonds after it dries. For the best results, users must dry the glue at room temperature.  

Plastic glue is perfect for art projects and home decorating. It’s also one of the safest and easy-to-apply hot glue alternatives  

The Right Glues for the Right Use

At the end of the day, it’s all about what you need glue for. Besides the surfaces you’re using the glues on, how you want to apply glue will also determine your choice of hot glue alternatives. 

Whatever your pick, these hot glue alternatives are sure to make your surfaces stick!

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